Lundberg and Polsini take first World Cup wins of the season

The 2026 Orienteering World Cup got off to a great start in Locarno, Switzerland, with Hanna Lundberg of Sweden and Tino Polsini of Switzerland winning the individual sprint that kicked off the new season.

The combination of the picturesque old town, challenging courses, beautiful sunny weather and an intense atmosphere on Locarno’s main square created the perfect setting for the first international race of the season.

And for Tino Polsini, the new World Cup season started as the last one ended: with a win. The Knock-Out Sprint winner from the World Cup Final in Uster narrowly beat Tomáš Křivda of the Czech Reoublic by one second, while Yannick Michiels took third place 14 seconds behind the winner.

Polsini had fast split times all the way around the 3.9 kilometer course, but Křivda took the lead after the longest leg of the course to control 12 with the fastest route choice. However, on the last handful of short legs, the Swiss was supreme and thus managed squeeze past the Czech, who won the individual World Cup Sprint in Uster in the fall.

In the women’s race, Hanna Lundberg was clearly the strongest today and won clearly by a margin of 20 seconds. European champion Pia Young Vik of Norway delivered another impressive performance and came in second, while the last starting home favorite Simona Aebersold did great on the last part of the course and took the last place in the top 3, six seconds further behind.

Top results
Women
1 Hanna Lundberg, SWE   15:15
2 Pia Young Vik, NOR +0:20
3 Simona Aebersold, SUI  +0:26
4 Tereza Rauturier, CZE +0:28
5 Natalia Gemperle, SUI +0:36
6 Andrine Benjaminsen, NOR +0:37

Men
1 Tino Polsini, SUI 13:44
2 Tomáš Křivda, CZE +0:01
3 Yannick Michiels, BEL +0:14
4 Tuomas Heikkilä, FIN +0:23
5 Zoltan Bujdoso, HUN +0:26
6 Isac von Krusenstierna,S WE +0:29